Should I start from Seeds or grow Mother Plants

Hey I was wondering if it's better to make a setup for 3-4 mother plants under a 600 watt MH and then take clones when ready vs. planting a bunch of seeds.

I was originally going to just plant from seeds, but didn't know if doing that would be bad with a lot of plants because of different genetics or does it make a difference on that level?
Then I thought about it and thought maybe I was rushing it and should make some mothers out of clones, and then take more clones. I also would be able to try some of whatever clone I'm getting so I could get an idea of what it will be like finished product. The other good thing about clones I thought would be that they would be nice because of all the same genetics so I would be able to grow them with a lot of ease.

And I have two questions about mother plants:
1: How long should I let the mother grow before taking clones
2: When trimming them, how much can I take off at once if it's getting too bushy. Or are there some threads with pictures on this? Because I was wondering if you could just top 1/4 or like 1/3 of the plant off at once after taking clones?

I much prefer clones to seeds, much faster turn around, seeds take a few weeks before they get going. Unless you';re trying to take large numbers of clones regularly, that light might be overkill, many folk just use big CFL's in their veg/mum room, but all depends on your requirement.

You can take clones from pretty much the get go, i often clone my plants for sexing purposes when they've a few good sets of leaves and the stem is say 3-4mm thick.

If the genetics are stable, you can cut the whole damned thing off save one viable shoot/branch. You can also trim the root ball down if needs be.

Alright nice, thats what I thought.

And ok, with the light would you recommend that I run it at half power maybe, so it's around ~300 watt output.

then clone wise I can kind of just wait until the plant looks nice and healthy to take them? sounds good.
and I didn't know that you could trim the root ball haha that's pretty cool

start with seeds. Grow them out, take clones from each female, label everything, flower out the original plants, pick your favorite, and then keep that clone as a mother and fill your room up with clones from the one you selected. Respect

With regard to the light, as i say, everything counts on how many clones you need to be taking and how often. I use a 125w cfl in my veg tent, when i kept mothers (now just clone from clone from clone and hope i don't cock up) i was often having to trim back huge amounts, just didn't have any use for it. What scale grow are you looking at? 6 plants, 12 plants...

I want to do two 600w hps/mh with 16 plants under each, so 32.
So instead of just starting with seeds I wanted to make some mothers, take 16 clones for Room 1 and then about half-way through that take 16 more clones for Room 2, and keep alternating every couple months.

Yeah bro for that many plants you are deffinatly going to want to be using clones. You would spend a arm a leg and your dick every three weeks for seeds. Any ways sounds like you got a plan. For a setup that big and a perpetual grow you want clones 100%. Like the other man said turn around time is much much much better from clones. Keep it up and STAY HIGH!!!!!!

OK, and for mother plants it's basically just keeping them growing under a 18/6 light period while trimming down to keep size within limits, right?

Penyajo said:

Yeah bro for that many plants you are deffinatly going to want to be using clones. You would spend a arm a leg and your dick every three weeks for seeds. Any ways sounds like you got a plan. For a setup that big and a perpetual grow you want clones 100%. Like the other man said turn around time is much much much better from clones. Keep it up and STAY HIGH!!!!!!

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wrong. You buy seeds once. Pick a keeper as your mother, then clone from that. Go buy clones from someone and you don't know what you're getting.

Well they would be from a friend that runs a local Co-Op so I know a good amount of what I'm getting. And yeah i was thinking about starting some mothers from seeds but I didn't want to have to order that many seeds if i could just but the clones and invest in two grow rooms and then just take mad clones from some nice cuttings.

everyone's opinion is going to differ, i personally have only grown from seed, aside from 4 gifted clones. if you have a buddy like i do that personally breeds his own seeds and kicks you down what ever you happen to need, then why not grow from seed?

yeah i must agree that the cloning process is more steady, and guarantees females. but taking a mother, cloning a new mother, and then clone from a clone from a clone from a clone and so on... i mean there is a reason certain breeders/growers pride themselves on having F1 plants/strains. better genetics, better quality product. sometimes the fast and easy way isnt always the way to get the best result.

for example compare tract homes to custom homes, or ford's to Ferrari's, fast food vs 5 star gourmet dining.

anyway, as i stated above there are many ways to skin a catfish, but everyone has their own method.

good luck!

I've kept one particular strain around for 5 years, started with seed and cloning from clones from then until now. It's exactly the same as 5 years ago. I don't get why people think cloning damages or changes the genetic makeup of a plant, because it doesn't. Nobody sells their best cuts to a club period. It doesn't matter if you know the owner of said club, he has a supplier. Now if you have a friend that has a gem and you have seen it and smoked it and you know he takes care of his grow and doesn't have pest or disease problems, thats a different story. Some clubs have good clones from reputable nursureys. I only know of two that have legit strains that are keepers. I'm from cali though so it might be different where you're at.

Yeah good point.

So this is what I think I'm going to do. I'll have two 600 watt hps/mh and just buy 30 seeds, each 10 a different strain, and then buy two clones from the clinic and just take cuttings from all 5 strains when they're able to and then turn those into mothers.
in the meanwhile that the cuttings are turning into mothers I can flower my other 32 plants and hopefully get at least a pound and a half. then replace the setup with half new seeds and half clones from existing plants, and then i might even try to cross some plants when I have enough room for the setups, or just decide I want a seeding room.

Do you have your lamps on light movers?

No, just Two, is that too many plants, I've had people tell me its too many and people say it's fine so what is it really haha

I think that planting all seeds and then cutting down some mommies from them and then using those clones for the next grow seems like the best way to me

im doin around 30 in the flower room at a time. I have two 1000 watts on light movers, and I might be adding a third here soon. Unless you plan to keep them really small or do less plants, i don't think that many with two 600's will work out. Even if you keep em small i don't think they'll be getting enough light. With my set up i still have to do a lot of plant moving to assure maximum coverage.

Yeah? Damn, I keep hearing different things, someone said that that many plants would be fine, but someone else recommended that I do 3x6 max and let them grow a lot. I don't plan on letting them get HUGE, you know maybe flower them when they're around a foot or a foot and a half while using LST on them. I'm going all indica and didn't want to sacrifice plant number vs time vegged. From what people down at the Co-Op tell me they say that it's right around the max I would do without going totally SOG, but they said it would still work.

If you can please tell me why it wouldn't work, because we worked out the lighting and space requirements and everyone I've talked to in person thinks that it will be fine, but I get mixed answers online. and one of my friends who runs the Co-Op has been growing for at least 10 years so I think he would know his shit.

sorry if i'm being a little stubborn with this it's just I don't know if I should listen to people because no one seems to have an answer that checks out with an other, or should I just stick with my math and go for it and see what the hell happens.

buy some strong genetics and grow out some batches to get your mothers, more is always better when picking mother plants. as far as how you want to grow, experament and do what works for you. everyone grows diferently, some people can do stuff i completly fail at but i can do things other just cant pull off. youll develop your own groove when things get rolling for a year or two, than look back and wonder why you stressed so much about others input.

why cant u just get clones grow them out, harvest them, make clones from them.... u dont have to wait for a set of new clones from ur mothers